Reliance Life to tie up with banks to distribute products
The Ambani brothers, Mukesh and Anil, came together on Thursday to raise the issue of stalled projects plaguing India Inc and implored the Maharashtra government and the Centre to make Mumbai, India's financial capital, an easier place for business and investments. "Several projects are stuck for many years in Mumbai and we would like to know how the government intends to improve the financing and execution of projects, including those relating to infrastructure and education which have been in limbo for long and are affecting the growth of the city," Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani told Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Seated on the same table was his brother, apart from Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry and State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya. Jaitley was addressing the Mumbai Next MMR Transformation conclave, organised by the Maharashtra government and Mumbai First here, through video conference. In his reply, Jaitley said the government was exploring several options of infrastructure financing in India and that a number of international bodies were ready to fund infrastructure development projects. He added the government was keenly considering these funding sources. While praising Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for honesty, Jaitley also had a word of advice. Apart from being honest, the government had to be decisive, he said. On his part, Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani told the chief minister about his experience of decisions being delayed due to an indecisive bureaucracy and the need to protect officials who wanted to take quick decisions. "Through the past many years, we have faced a number of obstacles in decision-making," he said, adding he was speaking as someone who had lived and invested in Mumbai. Fadnavis responded by saying he would bring about a transparent process to ring-fence officials. Both the Ambani brothers have announced a number of infrastructure projects in and around Mumbai, including a world-class convention centre in Bandra Kurla Complex by RIL, but very few have actually fructified. RIL's special economic zone project failed to take off due to land acquisition problems in Raigarh, while a second SEZ near Mumbai is stuck due to lack of clarity in SEZ norms. The first phase of the Mumbai Metro, set up by Anil Ambani's Reliance Infrastructure, was marred by cost overruns and run-ins with the government over fares. Subsequently, the company withdrew from the second and larger phase, citing inordinate delay. Anil Ambani also withdrew from Mumbai's sea link project on the same grounds. The brothers had also bid for a trans-harbour sea link between Navi Mumbai and Mumbai under the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government, but their bid was rejected. Reliance Infrastructure is also the power supplier to more than half of this city. Participating in the conclave, some of India Inc's leading bankers said making Mumbai a financial hub would take at least a decade. SBI's Bhattacharya said the Indian currency should be made fully convertible and facilities should be created for it. "However, for this, the economy needs to look up and that will happen only in the next 7-10 years, not immediately," she added. Sunil Kaushal, Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered, India, pitched for strong infrastructure to support development. "We will take a long time to develop into a global financial centre. We need to solve transport bottlenecks in Mumbai and have lifestyle facilities for people working in and around these areas," he said.
The RIL-RCOM deal is an indication of telecom sector's future. As the mobile subscriber numbers plateau, telcos need to look at alternate stream of revenues, and data services will be the key to their growth.
A number of investment banks in their research reports on Wednesday hailed the deal, saying it was strategic in nature for both cash-rich RIL and debt-laden RCOM.
However, TDSAT has asked govt to dispose of two representations made by the company on the guidelines.
Professor R Vaidyanathan, who has written extensively on the issue of black money stashed abroad, tells Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa that it's very important for Arvind Kejriwal to reveal his source of information on his latest anti-graft expose.
At one level, the ongoing tussle between the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and the Anil Ambani-controlled Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL) may confirm the misgivings of those who think public-private partnerships (PPPs) are a risky way of bridging the infrastructure gap.
Anil Ambani on Wednesday produced much mirth at an investment meet here when he greeted his elder brother Mukhesh Ambani.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today came in for fulsome praise from India Inc with RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani hailing him as a leader with "grand vision" and his younger brother Anil Ambani of ADAG putting him in the league of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel.
Some of them have ambitious plans to fight the slowdown, while some would seek to revive their image.
The network sharing agreement is the start of a new era of partnership between the brothers. More deals on sharing towers and intra-city fibre network are likely.
Shares of the Anil Ambani-promoted firm ended 1.90 per cent higher at Rs 64.50 on the BSE. During the day, the stock had jumped 9 per cent to Rs 69.
Under the pact, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries' telecom arm will hire nationwide optical fibre network of Reliance Communications for rollout of 4G services.
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group on Thursday signed an agreement with China's retail player Wanda Group to set up a joint venture for building integrated township projects in India.
The political row over the Rafale deal intensified on Tuesday with the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party trading barbs over it.
According to a report in the Financial Times, two UBS bankers tried to create Pleuri, an offshore vehicle through which Ambani 'could illegally invest in securities at home'.
The company wants 'economic restitution' due to rupee depreciation and changes in law.
In a video shared by Deora, former Union minister, on his Twitter page, Ambani says "Milind is the man for South Mumbai", while Kotak eulogises the Mumbai Congress chief for "truly representing the Mumbai connection".
Anil Ambani-promoted multiplex chain may sell stake to the Mexico-headquartered global giant
The video, which has been compiled using clips from RSTV, comprises statements made by the opposition MPs in the Upper House, with the words "farmer" and "Pegasus" in the opening lines.
The company is building floating LNG terminal in joint venture Reliance Power.
Industrial output growth rate remained flat in April.
Reliance ADA group is also planning to develop the railway infrastructure for transporting coal.
Operators oppose levying of charges for additional spectrum with retrospective effect.
Telecom honchos Sunil Bharti Mittal, Anil Ambani, Kumar Mangalam Birla and Vittorio Colao are expected to meet IT and Communications Minister Kapil Sibal tomorrow to discuss various issues impacting the sector.
The Anil Ambani Group's financial services arm Reliance Capital on Wednesday said it has received in-principle approval from insurance sector regulator Insurance Regulatory Development Authority for its proposed 26 per cent stake sale in Reliance Life Insurance to Japan's Nippon Life.
The CEOs, sources said, also discussed the steps to raise domestic production of coal.
RTL is part of Europe's largest media firm, Bertelsmann AG, and has a market cap of $15.5 billion (Rs 69,900 crore).
Reliance Entertainment, a unit of the Anil Ambani-led ADA Group, is expected to give $ 200 million to Hollywood director Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Studios, a deal which will extend a new financial lease of life to the struggling California-based film company.
Activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal on Friday took on the issue of hawala money stashed in Swiss bank accounts.
Reliance ADA Group on Monday said it will enhance its integrated power plants in Madhya Pradesh at an investment of Rs 20,000 crore and "will sell power to the state at Rs 1.19 a unit for the next 25 years".
In his letter dated October 11, written before the last EGoM meeting, Ambani has said the government would incur a loss of at least Rs 35,000 crore if the EGoM had decided to charge for excess spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz only prospectively from 2012, and not from 2008.
Amid indications of the government and RBI gearing up to grant new bank licences, Reliance Capital has said it is full-prepared from its side to foray into the banking business.
Reliance Capital on Wednesday said it has got approval from the Indian market regulator Sebi and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for Rs 1,450-crore (Rs 14.5 billion) stake sale in its mutual fund business unit to Japan's Nippon Life.
He gave the department time till February 13 to provide a complete record of office notes, orders and correspondence in this regard.
Pulok Chatterjee to head panel; deadline set for specific targets.
Who is to take their place? Will a new generation of entrepreneurs start up with better business sense, or at least better luck? But the so-called unicorns are mostly copy-cat entrepreneurs whose cash flow is funded by overseas (including Chinese) money, notes T N Ninan.
The markets had been speculating for weeks, but on Monday corporate India's first family got into it as well.
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